Amanda's Story by Thomas Kinkade

Author:Thomas Kinkade
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2005-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

nine

My letters!” Amanda gasped.

“The Langford boy’s letters.” Father’s mouth twisted with distaste as he said Jed’s name. “And quite a large volume. I assume that means you’ve been writing to him, too.”

Amanda bit her lip and nodded.

“In direct defiance of my wishes,” Father continued.

“You said I couldn’t see him and I haven’t. You never said I couldn’t write,” Amanda said.

“When I told you no contact, did I really need to add no letters or no telegrams or no smoke signals or—”

“No, sir.” Amanda looked down at the floor. Father’s sarcasm was painful. But then she raised her head and met his steely eyes. “They were in my drawer! They were at the bottom of my glove drawer! How could you—”

“You should know me better than that,” Father interrupted her. “They were scattered all over your bed, and when I went in to turn off the light—you ran out and left the light on—I couldn’t very well miss them.”

“Oh.” With Hannah’s shoelace problem and everyone calling her, she had run downstairs for the hayride and forgotten to put the letters away! And in the last one, she recalled, Jed had asked if she would want to live with him on a whaler. She was going to write her answer tonight. She’d been planning to start with, “Dear Jed, Yes, yes, yes!”

Father was studying her face. Amanda tried to keep her expression blank.

“I didn’t read them,” Father said. “I would never stoop that low. But I couldn’t help seeing his signature. ‘All my love, Jed.’ All my love indeed! Exactly what has been going on here?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all but letters.”

“I’d like to be able to believe that,” Father said.

“It’s the truth.” Father was almost calling her a liar! Amanda swallowed. “Though he does love me.”

“Nonsense. You’re such an innocent. A boy will say and do just about anything if he wants to keep company with a girl.”

“I do believe he loves me,” Amanda repeated stubbornly. “And I love him. What’s so wrong about that?”

“You’re much too young to know what love is,” Father said. “You have no idea. And you betrayed my trust. If you can’t see what’s wrong with that….” Father shook his head. “I expected far more of you.”

“Maybe you expect too much of me,” Amanda whispered.

“Really? Good character and honesty—is that expecting too much?”

“No,” Amanda mumbled.

“And for this!” Father waved a letter in his hand. “Shabby notepaper. What kind of respect for you does that show?”

“He doesn’t have the money for fancy stationery!”

“Penmanship like chicken scratches.”

“I don’t care what his handwriting looks like! It’s what he writes that counts!”

“Amanda, please stop shouting. I’d be embarrassed to have Hannah learn about your behavior.”

The last bit of spirit left Amanda. He made her feel small and ashamed.

“Come over here, Amanda.”

Amanda took a step toward Father. He had never hit her, never once for any reason, but as she came close to him, she couldn’t help flinching.

He handed her a bunch of letters and nodded toward the fireplace. “Destroy them.”

“Oh, no, please, no….

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